Hi, thanks Norm
Here is
an update:
some more details about the coal pile event for those still in Garston:
The coal pile was put in the light industrial area above the
docks at the end of Hughes street. It was behind sheets of corrogated iron, of which someone had remove a couple of pieces to expose the booty. He
said the pile was as big as a house (Australian bungalow...pretty darn big) at least.
Dads family lived in an old former club (now demolished) right
next to the Vic between Sinclair st and Hughes street. Just up from the green grocers at the time.
The pub on the corner of hughes st
was then known as Nellie Mallans (spelling?) as she was the propriator at the time. It was officially called the Kings Vaults at the time Dad
thinks. Now known as the King Street Vaults.
Nellie Mallans pub was an ?? ind.coop and allsops brewery at the time.
Dad said the memory
of the coal pile event is surreal. He doesn't remember the King St community talking, just industriously gathering the coal in a relay, doing what they HAD
to do.
A steady stream of dark faceless figures moving back and forth between the coal and their homes. The was a sense of logic and grand
opportunity about it, but mainly, just a sense of getting on with the task at hand.
Prams and hand carts were employed to carry the coal where
possible. When the bathtubs were chockas and there was nowhere left to stash the coal, they stopped.
The next day the opportuity was gone. For
some reason no more magic piles of coal appeared for the King street community.
A hand cart was a home made barrow, using a banana crate
and adding wheels and handles.
Most people could afford two bags of coal a fortnight, if they were lucky. That amount of coal lasted 3 days. The
rest of the time they scrounged around for wood or anything that would burn - or went without.
div>
Can you imagine what the coal pile meant for them?
All their christmases come at once!
It must have happened after the 2WW, in the mid-late 40s. The only chance of getting more information is to find
someone who was a teenager or adult at the time it happened (so now in their late 70s, 80s, 90s), and perhaps finding a report in the Echo or a police
report??
MM
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